Thursday, November 01, 2012

As we have all learned over the years, initial reports of celebrity deaths are often wrong. One hopes that is the case here, but as of now, two Spanish language newspapers are reporting that former major league pitcher Pascual Perez was murdered in a robbery in his home this morning in the Dominican Republic.

The reports come from the Dominican Republic newspapers “Hoy,” and “Diaro Libre,” each of which report that Perez was killed by an intruder in his home during a robbery in the early morning hours. We will update with any further confirmation, including any English-language reports that come out. UPDATE: The official Twitter of the Montreal Expos (note: how can a non-existent team’s Twitter be official?) is saying the reports are true.

Perez was one of the game’s great characters and unique talents. He compiled a 67-68 record with a 3.44 ERA and 822 strikeouts in 1244.1 innings for the Pirates, Braves, Expos and Yankees between 1980 and 1991. He may have been better known for his non-pitching exploits, however.

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With the Pirates (yes, he came up with the Pirates), he challenged Reggie Smith to a fight mid-game - and they had a fight beneath the stands with both teams watching. All this mid-game. The umps had to go find everyone to get the game back going on.

I had never heard this story before. I have to imagine that all the other players acted like school kids and were yelling "Fight! Fight! Fight!" the entire time.

Aw, hell. He was one of the most unique guys around and was on the Braves teams that were my introduction to strong fandom. His resurrection in Montreal was one of the best stories of the late '80s. A genuine odd duck. RIP.

Great memories. I have no memory of that fight, but that was the team I followed as a kid. I remember Perez getting lost and almost missing a start, and I'm pretty sure the umpires one day made him remove some of his necklaces, as he was "over golded".

I think Jay Johnstone wrote about the Dodgers-Pirates fight in Temporary Insanity. He wrote something about running back there ready to kick some ass, but then trying to look cool and lean against a wall when he saw how "big and black" the Pirates were.

The Perez brothers had fairly similar careers. All three were pretty good around age 26. Melido and Carlos last pitched in the major leagues when they were 29. Pascual had a horrible year at 28 and didn't pitch when he was 29. He did come back for five good years (though only two of them were full seasons) from 30-34.

I had never seen the video of that fight. That was crazy. I counted 3 fans jumping onto the field to join the melee, but there were probably more. What on Earth were they thinking? A different time, I guess.

From the video in #9 you see Champ Summers, a major player in the brawl, who also just passed away a month ago.

The really weird thing about that brawl was every time they thought they had it broken up and the players settled down, some new melee would start. I also noted that when Summers ran towards the Atlanta dugout, as soon as he got close some fans started throwing things at him, too - and I did see in the video a couple of fans getting arrested as well. Craaazy times.

The really weird thing about that brawl was every time they thought they had it broken up and the players settled down, some new melee would start. I also noted that when Summers ran towards the Atlanta dugout, as soon as he got close some fans started throwing things at him, too - and I did see in the video a couple of fans getting arrested as well. Craaazy times.

The other weird thing was that after the initial plunking (which sure as hell looked intentional), Perez and Lefferts appeared to be completely uninvolved in the brawl.

Announcer says "This is very close to getting out of control!" rather after that threshold had been crossed.

Padres had a lot of famous players that year (obviously partly they gained some fame because they won the NL). Dravecky, Garvey, Gossage, Wiggins, Templeton, McReynolds, Bochy, and Gwynn, all show up in that video. Braves were not so famous.

The other weird thing was that after the initial plunking (which sure as hell looked intentional), Perez and Lefferts appeared to be completely uninvolved in the brawl.

Watch the video again -- Perez is actually backing out of the box to avoid the ball before Lefferts' release!

Also notable is that some of the rowdiest fans involved in the fracas aren't even wearing shoes! Were shoes not common in 1984? (I was barefoot a lot back then, but of course I was only 7...) And why do some of the skinny little high-schoolers playing baseball in that video have huge beards?!

Padres had a lot of famous players that year (obviously partly they gained some fame because they won the NL). Dravecky, Garvey, Gossage, Wiggins, Templeton, McReynolds, Bochy, and Gwynn, all show up in that video. Braves were not so famous.

They aren't famous now but I'd bet that at the time of the fight the Braves players were better known or at least as well known as the Padre players. The reach of TBS back then was tremendous. Back then most of the people I knew followed two teams closely; your local team and either the Braves or the Cubs depending on which "Superstation" your cable company provided (assuming you had cable).

Bob Horner actually came down from the press box, put on his uniform, then protected anyone from getting near Perez. All with a cast on his arm. You did not want to tangle with a grumpy Horner, which would probably be akin to fighting a cornered wolverine. A somewhat out-of-shape wolverine, but a wolverine just the same.

Sad news about Pascual. The early-80s Braves squads pretty much made me a lifelong baseball fan, and Perez was a big part of those teams. Looking back, it was a crazy mix of characters. You had the straight-laced guys like Dale Murphy and Bruce Benedict...and on the other side, you had the not-so-sane players like Perez and Al Hrabosky. They were a lot of fun to watch, no doubt.

Back in the day two friends and I had the 1987, 1988, and 1989 versions of Pursue the Pennant. We would occasionally combine all three sets of players and have giant drafts of all the guys. Every time the first pitcher picked was Pascual Perez 1988. The second pitcher picked was always Pascual Perez 1987. He didn't pitch much those two years, but he was incredibly effective.

Bob Horner actually came down from the press box, put on his uniform, then protected anyone from getting near Perez. All with a cast on his arm.

This was the absolute best part of the brawl. Because of his injury, Horner had been in the press box doing guest color commentary. As tension was building, it was obvious that crap was about to go down. So, Horner quitely scooted out of the press box to prepare to join the mele. But it would have been unseemly for him to go on the field in street clothes, so he changed into his uniform first. Imagine the reaction at 1:15 of the video of the crowd watching on TBS when Summers goes charging toward the dugout after Perez, and Horner -- who we were just listening to five minutes earlier -- surprisingly pops out of the dugout in uniform to throw down. It's hard to overstate how riveting it was.

I had no idea the footage of that Padres-Braves game existed, especially in that high a quality. I wonder if they have the full game in the MLB archives somewhere ... I watched this game on WTBS, and it was wild to see Champ Summers getting hit with the beer again. Best brawl ever.

i recognized so many Braves Players... chambliss, benedict, hubbard, murphy, torre, washington, horner (I had forgotten he was in a cast),bedrosian, perry, oberkfell. Id forgotten many of these names, but they roll off the tounge now... loved those braves.

Wow, watching the video deeper, evidently the Padres threw at Perez in four straight at-bats.

Yeah, I remember watching that game. They did throw at him in every at bat. It was comical, after the initial warning every time they threw at him the pitcher and manager got ejected, by rule, so by the time they were able to actually hit him the "manager" was the assistant clubhouse attendant or someone.

I remember watching the Braves on TBS back in the day, when they gave us free baseball (cok suckers), Pascual covered first on a groundout to first and after getting the out he threw the ball to the right fielder. I guess to include the outfielders on the around the horn. What a character. RIP Pascual.

So many memories watching that...I had worked in marketing for the Richmond Braves while in college, so many of those guys I actually knew...some a little, some more. Tony Brizzolara, Glenn Hubbard, Gerald Perry, Brad Komminsk, Bruce Benedict, Dale 'I'm back in Richmond because I can't throw the ball back to the pitcher' Murphy, Eddie Haas...wow...I know I will watch this a bunch of times.

Was very sorry to hear about Pascual. As many here have said, he was a unique talent.

Seeing Bob Horner makes me recall him being booed at a Richmond-Atlanta exhibition because he had refused a rehab assignment to Richmond earlier in the season, making some disparaging remarks about the city as he did so. Jim Bouton was pitching for the R-Braves in a sort of tryout (he'd been pitching batting practice and eventually in games that season, it was one of the joys of my baseball existence to get to chat with him a few times) and he struck Horner out with a nasty knuckler and got a huge ovation. He was called up to Atlanta soon after.

Not sure if it was that team or not, but one year the R-Braves entire infield consisted of guys who either had a decent length ML career or at least a few cups of coffee...Benedict at catcher, Perry at first, Hubbard at second, Ramirez at short, and Jacoby at third.

I recall Tony LaRussa playing in Richmond one year. Wore wristbands. Couldn't hit.

So many guys, so many stories. One of the two biggest busts who was an R-Brave prospect in the eighties was a guy in that video, Brad Komminsk. The other was Wayne Nordhagen. Both of them hyped as 'can't miss'...but they did.

Many great TBS years, too, especially the strike year when they showed Richmond games instead. (That was a really good team.) At the end-of-the-season awards, the announcers anointed W&G Moving and Storage frogs Winnie and Gus as 'Frogs of the Year.' (They were on an outfield sign, and there were lights in their eyes that would be lit when a Brave came to bat in accordance with how many hits he had..one eye, one hit, and so on.)

Good times.

Hang in there, Pascual. The exit you're looking for is coming up soon.

Back in the day two friends and I had the 1987, 1988, and 1989 versions of Pursue the Pennant. We would occasionally combine all three sets of players and have giant drafts of all the guys. Every time the first pitcher picked was Pascual Perez 1988. The second pitcher picked was always Pascual Perez 1987. He didn't pitch much those two years, but he was incredibly effective.

Also, the between-the-legs pickoff move was always entertaining.

I, on the other hand, had the 1985 strat-o-matic set, and he was pretty much the worst starting pitcher in there. That just contributed to the fun though.